How do I get to feel better?

[Diamond1955]

Hi. On 75mg of Levothyroxine having been on 100mg. I am so fed up of feeling tired when I get out of bed, itchy skin, nails are a mess, I am irritable, my brain won't function, sleep evades me sometimes blurred vision in the afternoon, muscle tiredness, weight gain and I just want to feel something like "normal". Had blood tests recently but all normal, so they say! I have been reading about Armour. Does anyone think this might help alleviate some of these symptoms?

I've joined a gym to try to feel better and get some muscle back but sometimes I just can't do things as I am empty of energy. Really frustrating.

Have made an appointment with Doctor next Monday with the intention of seeing if he will prescribe Armour or refer me to an endocrinologist for further investigation.

Am I stupid to think that medication should make me feel better??

[shaws Administrator]

Never accept 'normal', ok, 'fine' with regard to blood tests. Always get a print-out from the surgery with the ranges of your results. We are entitled by law and some charge a nominal sum.

The aim of us taking thyroid hormone replacements is to relieve us of all clinical symptoms and feel well. Unfortunately it seems that many doctors believe if our TSH is somewhere in the range - even top of range - that we're on sufficient. Our TSH should be 1 or lower with FT4 and FT3 towards the upper part of the range. These are rarely tested. Many on the forum get their own from one of the recommended private labs.

Dr will definitely not prescribe Armour and probably wont add some T3 to your T4 but ask him if we will prescribe some T3 to see if it improves (on a trial basis).

Many of our members are been sorely disappointed with their consultation with an Endocrinologist even when they paid privately.

You could put up a new post giving name of your local hospital and asking if the Endocrinology Dept was good but ask for a Private Message to be sent to you and not post details on the Forum.

[Clutter]

Diamond1955,

'Normal' is a broad range. Can you post your results and ranges and we'll see whether you are optimally medicated.

[greygoose]

Joining a gym wasn't the right move, right now. The exercise will use up your T3 - and you obviously haven't got enough to begin with. Leave the gym for when you are optimally medicated. It won't make you feel better, it will make you feel worse.

[Diamond1955]

Thanks guys for your support. I am trying to ge the results, fortunately I have someone on the inside who might be able to help. As appointment is Monday, I need the results by tomorrow in the hope that someone in the community will be able to guide me as to the questions to raise etc. My doctor is good, he does listen but then tells me I should expect this at my age (62), maybe a small dose of anti depressants ( no bloody way!), etc. I need to deal with the problems not mask them with unnecessary medication. I am not a pill pooper, won't take anything unless I have to.

[humanbean]

Getting thyroid hormone levels and nutrient levels optimised will help the problems you list. But it might be worth experimenting with going gluten-free for 8 - 12 weeks or so as well.

Lots of people on here get benefits from going gluten-free. But in most cases it is because it reduces thyroid antibodies. I have never had thyroid antibodies, and I've been tested a few times. But eventually, reluctantly, I decided to try going gluten-free as an experiment. And the one really, really obvious thing that improved in less than a week was my irritation and temper.

So, if the irritability is becoming a problem, consider going gluten-free. It might help, you never know. And if it doesn't you can always start eating it again.

I have been reading about Armour.

Just for info...

Armour Thyroid is a brand name of NDT (Natural Dessicated Thyroid). It is one of several brands of NDT available.

NDT has an active ingredient which usually comes from pig thyroid, although I have read about some which contain cow thyroid but I don't know any brand names for cow thyroid pills.

Armour Thyroid is the most expensive brand of NDT in the world. Price is not a guide to quality. Many people do just fine on the cheapest.

Other brands of NDT available are listed here :

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...

Click where it says "Non-UK - Desiccated Thyroid (aka NDT)"

There are some brands of NDT not listed on that link - the ones from Thailand. They are Thiroyd, Thyroid-S, and TR Man. Many people do just fine on the Thai brands, which are the cheapest available.

Having said all the above... If you decide to try NDT and then mention it to a doctor, always, always refer to it as Armour, no matter which brand you take. If the doctor has actually heard of NDT (which is not guaranteed at all) for some reason the only name they recognise is Armour and anything else will be dismissed as dodgy. Don't ask me why.

[Diamond1955]

Hi again. I have got the latest test results - Serum level TSH 3.03 20th April. They did do a whole load of other tests back in November for numerous things but they are all in "normal" range although some were pretty close to either end of scale. These were including vitamin D, B12, ferrous, liver function bone profile, electrolytes, calcium, potassium full blood count etc.

Comments please x

[steviecat]

Hi Diamond. On the face of it, a TSH level of 3.03 would seem a little high. (But you don't give the range, so it is difficult to say).

Excerpt from Shaws' post above: 'Our TSH should be 1 or lower with FT4 and FT3 towards the upper part of the range'.

Nobody here will commit to commenting in detail without full (fuller) results and ranges

[Diamond1955]

All it says on the sheet is 3.03 mU/L 0.30-4.40mU/L no more detail so doubt that helps much?